The Slightly Botched Fairytale
by messyblackhair66
Summary: Lily was everything a girl should be... loyal, kind, smart, and beautiful. James was all she could have desired... tall, brilliant, and handsome. He loved her dearly, and she... wait. There's something wrong with this fairytale.
1. Mr Dunderboor

Disclaimer: I know nothing… it's all the lovely lady Rowling's

In a meadow in the English countryside, a woman and her four-year-old daughter were playing hide and seek. The mother pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked wildly around for her little girl.

"Lily, darling, I'm going to find you!" When her daughter didn't reappear, she grew slightly worried. "Lily, love?"

She heard a giggle from a patch of wildflowers a few yards behind her and turned around, relieved. "Dearest, don't worry Mummy like that!"

Lily blew a raspberry at her mother and turned to run again. She spotted a butterfly making its lazy way from flower to flower and squealed. "Mummy, Mummy, ___look!_"

"Yes, that's a flutterby, dear... I mean, ___no_, it's a flutterfly... Goodness, a ___butterfly!_" Lily's mother said, exasperated. She sat down on a patch of grass and watched her daughter chase the butterfly around, yelling happily.

A few minutes later, Lily ran back to her mother. "Mummy, the flutterby won't play with me!" She pouted.

"Butterflies don't like being caught, Lily," her mother said, pulling the girl into her lap. "It's part of their magic."

"I want it to play with me!" Lily's face was growing more and more red as she watched the butterfly fly away from her.

Lily's mother sighed.

___"I _-" Lily banged her fist on her mother's knee ___"want _-" She kicked her feet hard on the ground___ "that flutterby to play with me_!"

At these words, the butterfly halted in midair and zoomed straight into Lily's outstretched hand. The girl chuckled and began to pull on the butterfly's antennae.

Her mother gaped at her. "You - that - ___what?_"

Lily gave her mother a smug smile. "See, Mummy?" She giggled. "The flutterby used magic to get away from me, so I used magic to get it back!"

Her mother frowned, puzzled. "Darling, let's get back to the house... I'm sure your little friend Jane must have arrived for that playdate by now." She said, standing up and pulling her daughter with her.

"But ___Mummy_ - " Lily whined.

"We mustn't keep them waiting, dear, so come along."

But Lily's strange talents kept cropping up. When she was seven, she got into a fight at school. She brought home a report from the teacher saying she had broken the other boy's arm and sustained a black eye herself.

"Lily Ella Evans, what were you doing getting into a fight in school?" Her mother scolded that night.

"Well done, my girl, well done!" Her father said, patting her on the back. "A good healthy fight never hurt anyone! At least you got him good before he could do too much - "

"___Henry!_" Her mother snapped. "Don't encourage her!"

"All right, Mary darling, all right. Where is this report, by the way? I want to see ___exactly_ how my Lily bloodied up that boy." Mr. Evans winked at his daughter.

"Oh, you... it's on the sitting room table, but don't go get it, we're about to eat supper." Mrs. Evans put a kettle on the stove to boil. "It just said a load of bullocks about how Lily broke the boy's arm and we have to pay fifty pounds for the cast, but he blacked Lily's eye, so - " She shrieked. "___Lily! Your eye!_

Both Lily and her father looked alarmed.

"What about my eye, Mum?" Lily asked.

"It's... it's... not ___black_!"

"No, they're a wonderful shade of green, which ___I _take credit for!" Mr. Evans said, beaming proudly at Lily.

"No, dear, what I meant was - darling, what happened to your injury?"

Lily shrugged. "Oh, that. I was in the loo before art class today. I was looking in the mirror and I was really upset about the stupid black eye because it made me look ugly and my friend Eliza was trying to make me feel better and then ___poof!"_

___"Poof?"_ Mr. and Mrs. Evans asked together, confused.

"There was a strange noise, yes, like a ___poof_, and the black eye just disappeared!" Lily began to set the table. "I was really surprised, but Eliza wasn't."

___"It just disappeared?_" Mrs. Evans looked as if she was about to have a fit.

"Yes, Mum," Lily told her calmly, "but don't worry, Eliza says things like that happen all the time."

Suspicious things like the butterfly and black eye incidents began to happen more often to Lily Evans. When she was eight and a half, her older sister Petunia came back from boarding school. It was a very expensive and prestigious all-girls school, and Petunia had gotten in because the Evanses were one of the richest and best-known families in their part of England. This had caused Petunia to develop a rather big head, and at times she was quite unbearable.

"Did I tell you that we have ___outings_ with the boys from St. Watford's every other week?" She told Lily excitedly one night as they were getting ready for bed. "There's this one boy named William Sparrow, and he's the dearest thing! I dropped my bag in the mud one day, and he just - ___oh_, Lily, I simply must tell you about the dormitories! See, they - "

"Time for bed, girls," called their mother from downstairs, and Petunia reluctantly bade her sister goodnight and went to her own bedroom.

A few minutes later she was back with tales of her mathematics class. "My teacher even lets us go up to the board in class to write down the problems ourselves! Why, just last week when I got a problem right, she gave me a sweet from the jar on her desk! Isn't that just - "

"Petunia, just go to bed." Lily said, glaring at her sister. "I'm tired and I don't particularly like hearing about your fabulous ___bloody _school when I have to go to primary school right here in town!"

Petunia gasped. "___Lily_, don't say that word!"

"I'll say the bloody word if I want to say the bloody word! Bloody, bloody, bloody, ___bloody!_" Lily shouted.

Suddenly Petunia shrieked and covered her face. Blood had begun spurting out of her nose and staining her pretty blue nightdress.

Later that night, when Petunia was blood-free and safely in bed, Lily sat in her desk chair thinking. ___When I said bloody, her nose started to bleed. That doesn't normally happen, I don't think_. She took a sip of water. ___Maybe I'll ask that girl Eliza Becketts in my drawing class about it. She always has an answer for weird things._

As their daughter grew up, Mr. and Mrs. Evans got used to the strange things that happened around Lily. They came to believe that Lily would always be slightly different from all the other children. Lily herself expected the weird things to happen and was disappointed whenever they didn't. Their lives went on - Petunia came back from boarding school and was immediately sent to finishing school by Lily's condescending maternal grandmother, Lily continued with her drawing classes and placed first in her school in their annual art competition, and she began listening to the Beatles (much to the dismay of the grandmother).

One day in the middle of the summer, Lily was sitting high in the branches of the oldest oak tree on their property. The sweltering August heat, normally bearable, had been driving her around the twist. The dense leaves shaded her from the sun, enabling her to read her new book in peace.

She immersed herself in the pages of ___One Hundred Medieval Painters and Their Inspirations_ for a few minutes when a wind ruffled the pages and made her lose her place. She looked up, annoyed. ___Just the wind, then, Lily,_ she thought, and began reading again. A few minutes later the same thing happened, but this time she lost her hold on the book and it thumped from branch to branch until she heard it hit the grass below.

"Oh, bugger," Lily muttered. There was no use staying in the tree if she had no book to read. She climbed carefully to the lowest branch and took a large jump onto the lawn.

She stopped dead. Standing before her was an old man, who was holding in one hand the book she had dropped.

"E-Excuse me, sir, but may I have my book back?" She stammered.

The old man smiled and his blue eyes twinkled merrily at her. "Certainly, Lily." He held it out.

Lily gaped at him like a fish. "Er, how do you - "

"Know your name?" The old man was wearing a rather funny assortment of clothes. He was wearing a suit and tie, both in violent shades of orange, and a black bowler hat. He noticed her looking at his clothes and said, "So sorry about the apparel, my dear - I have just come from a Cannons match."

"I beg your pardon?" Lily had never heard of a sports team called the Cannons.

The man sighed. "Shall we go in to see your parents? I'm afraid I have some rather shocking news for you all."

"Er... yes, of course. Right this way, through the back door. Myrtle's cleaning the floors at the moment and I 'spect she won't appreciate it if we dirty them right away."

"I quite understand," said the old man solemnly.

Lily led the man through the door into the sitting room where her parents were sitting listening to a record.

When they walked in, Mrs. Evans quickly shut off the record player. "Lily, darling, what - oh, hello, sir. Er..." She took in her guest's eccentric appearance. "I'll, er, put the kettle on for tea, then? Earl Grey, Mister-?"

"Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore. And yes, please," the old man said, smiling at her. He settled himself in a chintz armchair next to Mr. Evans, who was looking quite astonished as Dumbledore began to examine his record player.

"Excuse me, I've never quite understood how these work, could you - ?" Dumbledore smiled politely at Mr. Evans, who jumped in surprise.

"Oh, yes, it's all quite simple, really. You see, there's a needle here..."

A few minutes later, Lily's mother came back in with a pot of tea and some biscuits. She set them on the low table and looked at Dumbledore. "Now, Mr. Dumbdoor - that is your name, isn't it?"

"Dumbledore, my dear madam," said the old man pleasantly.

"Oh!" Mrs. Evans blushed as she handed him a cup of tea. "Yes. I'm so sorry. Well, er... would you mind me asking -"

"Why I am here?"

She turned, if possible, even more red. "Erm. Yes, that was what I was going to -"

"May I, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, ask you a question?" Dumbledore took a sip of his tea.

Lily grinned. "You just asked them a question!"

"Lily, be polite!" Her mother admonished her, giving an apologetic look to Dumbledore. "Yes, of course, Mr. Dumbledore."

"Please, call me Albus. Now - have you ever noticed anything... ___strange_ happen around your daughter?" Dumbledore asked them, reaching for a biscuit.

Mrs. Evans looked shocked. She opened and closed her mouth, utterly speechless, until her husband said impatiently, "Well, Mary, tell the man! Of course strange things happen around Lily, they always have!"

She glared at him. "Shut up, Henry." She covered her mouth and glanced at Dumbledore when she realized what she'd said. "Oh, my, I beg your pardon."

"Everyone feels the need to say that from time to time. Why, I was just thinking that to myself the other day." Dumbledore winked at Mrs. Evans before continuing. "I am here - that is to say, I was ___sent_ - to tell you ___why_ these strange things happen."

Mrs. Evans looked as if she wasn't entirely comfortable receiving this information from a man in a bright orange suit, whose sanity she clearly doubted.

"Well, Dumbydlore, get on with it!" Mr. Evans leaned forward in his seat excitedly.

"Your daughter is a witch."

If the Evanses had been expecting anything, it wasn't that. Mrs. Evans shrieked and dropped her teacup, Mr. Evans jumped back, and Lily just sat there with her mouth open.

"E-Excuse me, but... ___what_ did you just call my daughter?" Mrs. Evans asked very faintly.

"A witch."

These words resulted in the same reaction as before. After a moment, Lily said, "Please, sir, but I don't believe witches exist."

"There is no reason why you should – yet." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at her. "But perhaps a demonstration...?"

"You mean... ___you're_ a witch?" Lily asked, astounded.

"A wizard, my dear child, a wizard." He rolled up his sleeves, pulled a long stick of wood out of his pocket, and promptly set Mrs. Evans's sitting room curtains aflame.

Lily's mother leapt up, exclaiming in surprise and anger, but gasped a moment later when the flames suddenly went out and the curtains were left undamaged and as pristine as ever.

"W-what... I mean... oh!"

Mr. Evans, who had been watching the whole thing with a rather interested look on his face, broke in. "Well, Mr. Dumblydroo, I think I see what's going on."

"Oh yes, sir, and what is that?"

"That's some type of... firearm, if you will, that bit of wood!" Mr. Evans pointed at the long, thin piece of wood sticking out of Dumbledore's suit pocket. "Thought you'd have a bit of a laugh, eh?"

"No, no, my dear man," said Dumbledore, chuckling, "for if it were a firearm, how would the curtains be returned to their previous immaculate state?"

Mr. Evans bit his lip. "I say, you've got me stumped."

"If I may return to what I was saying?" Dumbledore beckoned to Lily and she came to stand next to his armchair. "Have you ever made anything happen? Anything... abnormal? When you were feeling particularly cross or upset?"

Lily looked, eyes wide, from her mother to her father and back again. "Why... yes. Yes, sir."

Dumbledore tapped her on the nose with his stick of wood. "That, my dear, is the mark of a true witch." Her nose began to grow at an alarming rate. When it had reached the wall, it shrank quickly back to its normal size.

She burst out in laughter. "Mum, Dad, did you ___see _that? Mr. Dumbledore, can ___I _do that? And where can I get one of those? That's a ___wand_, isn't it?"

"Yes, darling, we saw," said Mrs. Evans disbelievingly, clutching her husband's shoulder tightly.

"My dear, you could do that with ___practice._" Dumbledore pocketed his wand. "Which leads me to my next question. Lily, you have always wanted to go to boarding school, yes?"

Lily's eyes shone. "Oh, ___yes!_ Petunia's gone since she was my age and I've never been allowed!"

"I thought as much," remarked Dumbledore. "Mr. and Mrs. Evans, I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Looking at him incredulously, Lily giggled. "Hogwarts? What a funny name, I think!" Her mouth dropped open. "Are you... are you saying I can ___go _to that school? Hogwarts?"

"Mrs. Evans, is this moving too quickly for you?" Dumbledore said kindly. When she nodded, he pulled a small bottle from his suit pocket and handed it to her. "This is a Calming Draught. I always bring it along when I go to tell Muggles their child is accepted at Hogwarts. Don't worry," he added, misinterpreting the confused look on Mr. Evans's face, "it is perfectly safe, I assure you."

"No," Mr. Evans said, "it's just... did you say ___Muggles_?"

"Muggles are non-magic peoples," said Dumbledore matter-of-factly. "At Hogwarts, Lily will be known as a Muggle-born, which is a witch or wizard with non-magic parents. That is, if you allow her to go."

"Oh, Mum, Dad, ___please?_" Lily was looking desperately at her mother. "It sounds absolutely ___perfect!_"

Mrs. Evans had been very quiet since she had taken the Calming Draught. Now she spoke, and she sounded much less distressed than she had. "I think... I think Lily should go," she said, smiling at her daughter. "It ___does_ sound rather lovely to have a witch in the family. Are there spells to... well, help around the house?"

Dumbledore pulled his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at Mrs. Evans's smashed teacup. "___Reparo!_" he exclaimed, and the pieces flew back together until the cup was standing on its saucer, good as new.

"I say!" remarked Mr. Evans. "That ___is_ extraordinary! Lily, darling, full speed ahead, I think! This school sounds fantastic! But Dumblydoe, are there regular classes? Maths, languages and all that?"

"There is an Arithmancy class, which I suppose is as close to mathematics as can be, and our Ancient Runes class teaches students the art of deciphering ancient figures." Dumbledore refilled his teacup. "However, these classes are not available until students enter third year," he added.

"Third year?" Mrs. Evans asked. "How many years ___are_ there?"

"Wizarding youths come of age when they are seventeen. Lily is eleven and would be a first year at Hogwarts; when she is twelve she will be a second year; and so on." Dumbledore said. "There are seven years of study at Hogwarts.

"Now if you'll excuse me – when I left the Cannons game, they were losing 150 to 60. The Wimbourne Chasers really are something marvelous! I must be getting back. Ah, those Cannons," he sighed, "we must just cross our fingers and hope for the best!" He turned to the Evanses, who were all looking rather puzzled again. "Quidditch, of course. I will owl you about Hogwarts, my dear," he told Lily, and with a loud ___crack!_ he was gone.

No one spoke for a minute. Then Lily said, "Mum?"

"Yes, darling?"

"I'm afraid I have no idea what he just said."

Well, that's it then, innit? Just click the little periwinkle blue button down and a bit to the left…


	2. The Hogwarts Express

And here's Chapter Two! Sorry, might not be able to update as soon as I'd have liked to… just broke up with my boyfriend of two years. But hey! I've still got my Jamie Potter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and nada. Enjoy!

A leaf fell from a tree onto Lily's luggage. She dropped the handle and mopped her brow tiredly. Who knew spellbooks were so heavy? She picked up the leaf and examined its pretty golden-brown hue.

"Lily, stop dawdling and go get that blasted owl of yours!" Mr. Evans panted as he rushed back across the road pushing a metal trolley. "It's making a bloody racket!"

Mrs. Evans glanced at her watch. "Darling, we've got about fifteen minutes to get you onto that train before it leaves! Do you have that paper that says how to get onto the platform?" She joined her husband in his attempt to heft Lily's trunk onto the trolley.

"It's right here, Mum!" Lily said as she pulled a crumpled paper out of her shirt pocket. "Run straight at the barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten to reach Platform Nine and Three Quarters," Lily recited. "As soon as you have gone through the barrier, kindly step out of the way to help avoid any accidents and/or collisions."

"Oof!" Lily's mother let go of the trunk suddenly and her husband almost toppled over. "Yes, all right, now – Lily, why have you got a leaf in your shirt pocket?"

"It's pretty."

"You look strange, dear."

"I like it."

"Take it out."

"No."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I said so!"

"I won't!"

"Fine!" Lily's mother threw up her hands in exasperation. "Now we really have got to find that platform. Henry, I'll take Lily first and then you follow with the trolley."

Lily joined hands with her mother and they ran across the road. Mrs. Evans pushed on the old revolving door and they jostled their way through the thick crowd of travelers to the signs that read **9** and **10**.

"Mum, I don't think the barrier will let you in," Lily said, glancing at her letter.

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Evans said sadly. "I suppose we'll have to say good-bye to you when your father gets here, then."

Mr. Evans appeared in the midst of the crowd, pushing and shoving a number of people. "Watch it, you!" he yelled at one boy's retreating back after running into him.

"Here's your trolley, my dear," he told Lily, grinning, "and did you _see_ the way I told off that boy who –"

"Not now, Henry." Mrs. Evans cut in. "We've got to say good-bye to Lily here. The platform won't let Muggles through."

"Stupid thing," Lily added, kicking at the barrier. To her surprise, her foot went right through.

"Oof!" She pulled her foot hard and fell backwards into someone. Turning around, she saw a boy about her age.

"I'm so sorry! It's just, I didn't know my foot would –" she stopped talking, horrified. _What if the boy wasn't –_

"Don't worry, I'm a wizard." He smiled shyly at her. "And it's okay, really."

"Lily, darling, only five minutes left!" Mrs. Evans pulled her daughter into a hug. "Promise you'll write, don't blow yourself up, you know, the usual," she grinned.

"My turn, Mary!" boomed Mr. Evans, striding forward and seizing his daughter into a bone-crushing hug. "Now, poppet, I want you to get into lots of trouble and start fights whenever possible…just like you did when you were seven. Oh, and _no_ boys!" He added with a wink.

"Now, off with you!" Mrs. Evans said, smiling slightly as she pushed her daughter toward the barrier. "And remember, good grades or no new broomstick next year! I love you, darling!"

Lily blushed at the amused look the boy was giving her and turned to face the barrier. She took a deep breath and sprinted the short distance. A moment later, she emerged onto the other side and let out a huge breath of relief. In front of her was a huge scarlet steam engine with the words _Hogwarts Express_ emblazoned onto the side.

In her wonder, however, she had forgotten to step aside. The boy she had met earlier came through the barrier and collided with her, knocking them both over.

"Oh!" Lily helped him up. "Er…I'm sorry – I seem to be causing you rather a lot of trouble lately."

"No problem," the boy said, carefully straightening the collar of his shirt. "I'm clumsy myself. We'd better get on the train."

The two wheeled their trolleys to the door, but as neither one of them was particularly strong, they couldn't lift the trunks into the baggage compartment.

"Well, this is a problem!" Lily declared, sitting down on her trunk heavily. "Why isn't there a…a guard here to help, or something?"

"Here, I'll help out!" A boy with incredibly light blond hair in a red shirt picked up Lily's trunk with little difficulty and shoved it on to the rack. Once he had done the same with the other boy's, he grinned at them.

"I'm Sam."

"Lily." _That was nice of him._ "And this is…"

"Remus."

The train whistle started to blow and Lily gasped. "The train's leaving!"

She quickly mounted the steps onto the train, making sure the boys followed her. Once they were safely on board, Sam gave her a little wave and turned right down the corridor. Remus hastily followed him, leaving Lily alone in the train corridor. She sighed and turned left to find someplace to sit.

The first compartment she looked into was full of rowdy older kids playing cards – she shut the door quickly. The second held two girls in their late teens, both impeccably made up and clutching fashion magazines. They glared at her and she continued to the next compartment.

Lily slid open the door to find three boys who must have been about fourteen or fifteen. They were in the middle of an animated discussion, but stopped when she entered.

"Hello! You a first year?" said the one closest to the door. He had a friendly, freckled face with large brown eyes.

"Er…yes." Lily noticed one of the other boys whisper something to his friend. The friend chuckled.

"I'm Benjy Fenwick!" the freckled boy announced. "And these are my friends Robert Harris and Michael Ross."

Lily smiled at him. "I'm Lily."

"Well, Lily," said the one named Robert who had laughed before, "we've decided that you can sit with us."

"And d'you know why?" said Michael before Lily could answer.

"Because we think you're quite pretty for being eleven –" continued Robert.

"— and we wouldn't want you to fall in the hands of those nasty Slytherins!" Michael concluded. "Like Lucius Malfoy."

"Luscious Mouthful!" Benjy joked, making Michael snigger. He motioned for Lily to sit down next to him, which she did. "But really, Lily, they're not ones to cross. Last year Malfoy took a first-year girl somewhere alone. They came back an hour later and the girl's been strange ever since!"

Lily shivered. "But you say – he's a Slytherin? What's that?"

"Lily, are you Muggle-born?" Benjy asked. When she nodded, he grinned. "I love Muggle-borns. They're so much fun!"

Michael sat back against the wall and put his feet up on Robert's lap. "Tell 'er about the houses, Ben." Robert disgustedly shoved his friend's feet onto the floor.

"Well, first off, there's Hufflepuff. That's the house we're in. Everyone says it's for the duffers who don't fit into any of the _other_ houses," Benjy said.

"Yeah… those are the real bloody duffers. Hey, Lily, want a bean?"

She caught the tiny dark green bean tossed at her. "A bean?"

Robert made a face. "Sorry, I reckon I gave you spinach. 'ere." He handed her the bag. "Pick another."

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans," Benjy explained. "Very dangerous."

"They don't _look_ dangerous…," Lily said, picking a pink bean out of the bag.

"Tha's what you fink!" said Robert with his mouth full. When he finally managed to swallow, he continued, "They've got all the usuals, you know, bubblegum, cherry, marshmallow…But then they put a few odd ones in there…like spinach and bogey-flavoured." He spat something out in his hand. "_That_ one was foul. Endive, I reckon."

"_Anyway_…" Benjy continued loudly. "The other houses are – "

"—Ravenclaw for the brains – "

"—Literally – they're all brains and not much else – "

"—Slytherin for the slimy gits – "

"—Malfoy's a great example – "

"—and Gryffindor for the loyal and the brave," Michael finished. "'course, the real brave ones are in Hufflepuff. We're just overshadowed."

Benjy rolled his eyes. "They always finish each other's sentences," he told Lily, jerking his thumb at the other boys, "ever since first year, they have."

"W-what year are you lot in now?" Lily ventured. Her bean tasted like an undercooked radish.

"Fourth, and as innocent as we were when we got Sorted."

"Sorted?"

Benjy started to explain, but Robert cuffed him on the back of the head. "Shove off, Benjy, she'll see when she gets there."

Suddenly, the compartment door slid open. Standing there was a short boy with messy black hair.

Review review review, darlings!


	3. Apple Core in a Beehive

Disclaimer: I own… what's the word again? Oh, right. Nothing.

**_And without further ado, here it is: CHAPTER THREE: Apple Core in a Beehive_**

The boy was wearing a set of black robes that looked a little big on him and had a pair of wire-framed glasses perched on his nose.

"Hullo!" Benjy said. "Fancy a sit? Are you a—"

"—first-year?" chorused Michael and Robert, sounding bored.

The boy cast an eye around the compartment, his eyes lingering on Lily – in particular, on the leaf in her shirt pocket.

"Why've you got a leaf in your pocket?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Who are _you_?"

The boy blushed. "I-I'm James. Potter." He stuck out his hand. "James Potter."

"Nice to meet you, James Potter James Potter!" Lily grinned and shook his hand.

"Yes, nice to meet you, I'm Benjy Fenwick!" Benjy patted the seat between him and Lily and James sat down gratefully.

"Just a moment!" Michael peered into the boy's face. "James _Potter?_ As in _Charlus _Potter of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement?"

"That's the one, yeah!" Robert's eyes lit up. "Your dad's helped my mum out of a few tight spots over the years! Really knows his stuff, he does!"

James puffed out his chest and grinned. "Yep, that's Dad. He left for a conference in Bulgaria 'bout a week ago and—"

"Ooh, _law_ enforcement?" Lily grabbed his arm, her face shining. "My dad's the Chief of Police in our town!"

James chuckled nervously. "Yeah, it's great." Lily let go of his arm, blushing furiously.

"Some say Potter's a shoo-in for the Minister of Magic position when ol' Bagnold retires," Robert continued thoughtfully. "'course, Dumbledore will probably get it."

Michael grinned at the indignant look on James' face. "Don't worry, you don't want your father being Minister. _Daily Prophet_ blokes following your family around everywhere? Spare me, I'd say."

The conversation wandered from the Ministry to the merits of magic carpets to which were better – Chocolate Frogs or Peppermint Toads – in a very short space of time; Benjy was very talkative. One person, however, seemed reluctant to join in on the conversation. Robert kept glancing at his watch, and when it reached noon he jumped as if surprised.

"Er… sorry, mates, but I've got to go and meet someone – catch you later, yeah?"

Smirking, Michael waved him away. "Go on, go on. Snog Bertha if you have to."

Robert flushed a deep red and whacked his friend on the side of the head.

"Who's _Bertha?_" Lily asked, giggling.

"Bertha Jorkins – Robert's _girlfriend!_" Michael teased, punching Robert on the arm.

Standing up indignantly, Robert put his hands on his hips. "She is _not_ my –"

"Robbie, dear?"

The compartment door opened to reveal a plump girl. She had curly blond hair and was wearing a lavender summer dress.

"H-Hello, Bertha." Robert said, his face red. "Did you have a good—"

"My summer was just _spiffing_, darling, and yours?" Not giving him a chance to answer, Bertha dragged poor Robert by the elbow to stand next to her. She had an annoying habit of smacking her gum as she talked.

"My summer was pretty good, I th—"

"Oh, that's marvelous. Robbie, I've got someone in my compartment you've simply _got_ to meet…her name's Eliza Becketts and she's just the dearest thing—"

"Eliza Becketts?" Lily sat up very fast. "Was that her name?"

"Er… yes, that's—" Bertha began bemusedly.

"Might I come along to your compartment and see her?" Lily asked.

"I suppose—"

"Lead the way, then… _Robbie_," Lily said, smirking. As she followed the other two out of the compartment, she distinctly heard Michael say, "You know, I reckon I really do like that girl."

After walking along the corridor for a few seconds, Bertha stopped in front of a door and opened it. Lily walked in excitedly.

Sitting next to the window was her good friend from primary school, Eliza Becketts.

"Eliza?" Lily shrieked, her mouth dropping open. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hello, Lily!" Eliza smiled at her. "I had a feeling I'd be seeing you here."

"What? How'd you know?"

"You told me when we were younger you always made funny things happen… remember that disappearing black eye?" She shrugged. "Reckon I just put two and two together."

Lily gaped. "So you're not – Muggle-born, then?"

"No, I'm a half-blood," said Eliza, "because my mum is a pureblood witch but my dad is a Muggle. That's why I went to Muggle school."

"Sorry to interrupt this little – _party,_" said Bertha, her nose in the air, "but could you two move to a different compartment? Robbie and I need some…_alone_ time." She swung Robert's hand back and forth, looking adoringly at him. Robert looked as if he wanted the ground to swallow him up.

"Some alone time? How very touching." Lily giggled. "Eliza, would you like to come back to our compartment?"

"Yes, _please_," said Eliza gratefully. They left the compartment and she let out a huge sigh of relief. "You saved me! She introduced me to this fat man with an enormous moustache, Lily, it was so—"

"Miss Becketts?"

The two girls turned and Lily's first impression was of a large walrus waddling down the corridor toward them. The man was short and squat with a marvelously big moustache. He was wearing a set of emerald green robes.

"Hullo, Professor Slughorn, sir," said Eliza, stifling a giggle. She exchanged a look with Lily.

Slughorn beamed at Lily. "And who is your little friend?"

"Professor Slughorn, this is my friend Lily Evans. She –"

"Evans? Evans?" Slughorn squinted at her. "Could you possibly be related to Scanaper "Scrappy" Evans, renowned inventor of the _Lumos_ charm?"

"I don't think that's possible, sir!" Eliza said. "You see, Lily's Muggle-born."

"Ah!" Professor Slughorn peered at Lily. "Well, we'll just have to see how sh – _that _turns out then, won't we?" He frowned slightly. "I must be going, my dears, I've got to get back to Belby and the others! Andromeda Black was telling me the most delightful joke about a leprechaun, a hag, and a Venomous Tentacula that all walk into the Leaky Cauldron—" He patted Eliza on the shoulder and nodded genially to Lily before entering the compartment on their left.

Lily turned to Eliza and giggled. "He's definitely something!" she said. "His moustache…!"

"Isn't it the biggest thing you've ever_ seen_?"

"What's the biggest thing you've ever seen?"

The girls spun around. Behind them were three tall boys, all already wearing their robes. The one in the middle had long silvery-blond hair and was glaring at them suspiciously through cold grey eyes. The two flanking him on either side were dark and sinister-looking. One of them cracked his knuckles and Lily heard Eliza gulp.

"Well? Let's have it, then!" said the one on the right. "Biggest thing you've ever seen?"

"Reckon I know what it is…," murmured the one on the left, elbowing the boy in the middle in the ribs. They both sniggered.

"I-I was just t-talking about—" Eliza stammered and fell silent.

Lily stepped forward. "We were talking about Professor Slughorn's moustache," she said politely, but there was a slight steely edge to her tone, "but why do you ask?"

The blonde boy raised an eyebrow at her. "What's your surname?"

"I don't see what business that is of yours." Lily said coolly.

"If I _ask your surname_, it would be in your best interests to tell me," the boy said menacingly.

"My surname is my personal information and you'll only know it if I choose to divulge it!" She said swiftly, and tugged on her friend's arm. "Come on, Eliza."

They had only just turned around when Lily felt something hit her back. Her legs began to jerk around uncontrollably in a sort of wild dance. Hard as it was to do under the circumstances, she turned around.

"Funny," Lily said calmly. She pulled her wand out of her skirt pocket and pointed it at her legs. "_Finite Incantatem_." Her legs stopped moving.

The boys' eyes widened. "What the—"

"Lily, where did you learn that?" Eliza whispered.

"In a book—"

"What year are you in?" said the boy, his eyes narrowed.

"Again, that's personal information that I'm not choosing to give out. At least, not to you." Lily smiled sweetly at the boy's outraged face. "Now, _if_ you'll excuse us…?" She pulled on her friend's arm until they were outside the door of Benjy and Michael's compartment. Ignoring Eliza's awestruck expression, Lily slid the door open and sat down as if nothing had happened.

Benjy took one look at Eliza's face and frowned. "What happened?"

"Lily stood up to – to _Lucius Malfoy!_" Eliza exclaimed.

"She _what_?" Michael and Benjy looked shell-shocked.

"He was being all mean and nosy, you know what he's like, and Lily just about snapped her fingers at him!" Eliza's eyes were still huge.

"No, really? Did – _no, really?_" Michael grinned hugely. "Well, go on, tell us what happened! What was he being a nosy bugger about?"

"I didn't know it was Malfoy…he asked my surname. I refused to tell him, and he jinxed me," ("He _didn't_!" exclaimed Benjy) "yes, he did, but I just said _Finite Incantatem_—"

"It was brilliant!" Eliza said.

"I'd read about it in books, you know, but we're not allowed to do magic outside of school. That was the first time I got to try it out." Lily blushed at the rapt attention she was getting from Michael, James, and Benjy.

Eliza took over the story. "And she ended the jinx just like _that_! Malfoy was really surprised, though, you should have seen his face! He asked what year she was in, but she refused to tell him that, too, cool as you please, and then we just walked back to the compartment!"

"And Malfoy didn't – attempt anything after that?" Benjy asked, his face worried.

"Oh, no, he was just standing with his thug friends, all surprised!" Eliza told him.

"Pardon me, but who are you?" Michael asked her.

"Oh! I'm Eliza Becketts. Lily and I are friends from primary school."

"The girl Bertha was mooning over?" Michael inquired. "What've you got to interest her?"

"Our parents are old friends…she watched me a lot when we were younger. Nosy thing she is, though," Eliza added.

Michael snorted. "Don't we know it, eh, Benjy?" The other boy nodded.

"Apparently her mum's a reporter. One of the top ones at the _Daily Prophet_. 'Course, the _Prophet_ only accepts the best, doesn't it?"

"But Bertha's not exactly the swiftest spell in the book!" Michael chortled. "Dumbest girl I've ever met. Don't know what Robert sees in her, really I don't. Each to his own, though, I suppose."

There was a knock on the compartment door. It slid open to reveal Sam, the boy Lily had met earlier, still with Remus in tow.

"Fancy meeting _you_ here, Lily!" Sam said, grinning.

"Good lord, that girl is more popular than an apple core in a beehive," Michael muttered.

"And I reckon I know you, as well." Sam moved forward to get a better look at James. "You're James Potter!"

Eliza whistled. "James _Potter_? Wow, your house is gigantic! I went there once for some boring old Ministry function with my mum."

James muttered something about "only a modest castle."

"Well! Sorry for intruding. We can't stay in our compartment, now, though."

"Why not?" Michael asked, looking as though he would very much like to be rid of the flood of first-years infiltrating his compartment.

Sam made a face. "Some idiot let off a dungbomb in there. Stinks something awful now."

"What? Where did he get a dungbomb? Zonko's was all out when I went there last weekend! Same with the shop in Diagon Alley!" James exclaimed incredulously.

Looking at him strangely, Sam shrugged. "Well, I dunno. It wasn't a bloke, though. It was a girl." He looked around. "Looks a bit crowded in here—"

"It _is_," Michael grumbled.

"—mind if we sit down?"

Michael sighed but scooted over to the window to make room for Sam and Remus. There were now seven people in the compartment.

Benjy clapped his hands. "So who's up for a game of Exploding Snap?" he said cheerfully.

_**So that's it, innit? Review review review, my lovely readers! Longest and most descriptive review gets… some levitating sherbet balls, maybe?**_

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	4. The Arrival

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the charming and giggly Eliza Becketts.

_And without further ado, I give you…_

_**Chapter Four: The Arrival**_

After a few hours of card games and conversation, Benjy glanced at his watch.

"Well, I expect we'll be arriving soon. 's starting to get dark, anyway. Would you girls like us to leave so that you can change into your robes?"

Eliza started to giggle furiously. Lily sent her a disdainful glance. "Yes, please."

"Right then, see you in a bit," said Michael, yanking James and Sam out of their seats.

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

"Ruddy first-years," Michael grumbled. The door to the compartment slammed shut after him, leaving Eliza and Lily alone.

"Oh, I forgot – your trunk's in Bertha's compartment, isn't it?" Lily asked.

Eliza nodded. "Yes, I suppose I'd better go and get it. Do you want to come?"

"Beats sitting in the compartment all by myself. Just a moment, though, I want to change into my robes first."

After Lily had changed into her long black school robes, the two girls walked down the corridor to Bertha's compartment. Lily opened the door and gasped.

Robert and Bertha were wrestling on one of the seats. At least, that's what she thought at first. But then – they were kissing, as well…

"Lily!" Eliza whispered delightedly. "They're – they're _snogging!_"

"I_ know!_" The two gaped at the scene taking place for a few seconds. Neither Bertha nor Robert had noticed their presence. Then the girls seemed to come to their senses and stood up on a seat to better reach Eliza's trunk.

"You pull from that end, and I'll try to get it down from here." Lily nodded and they tugged on the trunk. Eliza was stronger and the trunk tipped over onto Lily's hands.

"Ouch," Lily whispered.

"Sorry."

One more hard tug from them both pulled the trunk so that it was perched precariously on the edge of the rack. As it began to tip, Eliza gulped and moved out of the way. Lily quickly did the same and the trunk toppled off the luggage rack, hitting the compartment door and shattering the glass in one of the panes before crashing to the floor between the two girls.

There was a noise like a plunger resurfacing as Bertha and Robert disentangled themselves. "Do you _mind?_" said Bertha irritably as Robert flushed scarlet.

"H-how much did you see?" he asked.

Lily glanced at Eliza, who looked as if she was about to burst out laughing. "Oh, not much. A couple tonsils here, a couple there, I'd say –"

"_Out! Out! _Out of my compartment!" Dodging the shoe Bertha chucked at them, Lily and Eliza dragged the trunk out of the compartment. Eliza shut the door and collapsed against the wall, laughing.

"Ha – ha – Merlin, Lily!" She wiped her eyes. "But – oh, I've got to change, the boys will be coming back to the compartment soon!"

"Yeah, sure… wait, I've got to fix this." Lily pulled out her wand and flicked it at the broken pane on the door. "_Reparo!_" The shards of glass flew back together and onto the frame again, as good as new.

"You're pretty good at magic, I have to say!" Eliza told her as they walked back down the corridor.

"I just learned normal stuff. They had some that looked really interesting in the extra books I got for a bit of light reading –"

"Yeah? Cool, what were they?"

Lily blushed. "Oh, er, I just got the _Standard Book of Spells_ collection."

"All _seven_ of them?" They entered their compartment again. "Exactly how much time did you have on your hands this summer?"

"Shut up," Lily said, picking a package out of Eliza's open trunk and examining it.

"Those are Licorice Wands," Eliza said. She pulled her robe over her head. "In other words, the best kind of sweet there is. Here, try one!"

Lily stuck a piece into her mouth and poked her head into Eliza's trunk again. "Ooh, _Witch Weekly_? What's that?"

Before Eliza could answer, there was a loud banging on the door.

"You lot finished yet?" came Michael's voice from the other side.

Eliza started to call back, but Lily tugged on her arm. "Hey, don't say anything about Robert and Bertha to Michael." Her friend made a sound of protest. "No, really, you know he'd just take the mickey out of the poor bloke." Eliza sighed, defeated.

"_Can we come in or not?_"

"Yes, we're finished changing!" Lily shouted back.

The doors opened and James and Remus burst in. Michael came in after them.

"Hold on, I think I missed one," he said, and reached behind him. He grabbed Sam by the scruff of his neck and heaved him into the compartment.

"Ow!"

Benjy walked in and sat down. "I've just been to see the conductor, and he says we'll be arriving in a few minutes," he told them.

There was a knock on the compartment door and Robert came in. He avoided Lily and Eliza's eyes and spoke to Michael. "So how've you lot been?"

"Question _is, _how've you and Bertha –" Michael began, but Benjy hushed him.

Lily looked to her right and saw heavy rain lashing through the open window. "Oh, no, Michael, we've got to shut that window!" she exclaimed.

Eliza hurried to close her trunk. "Oh, most of my things are wet!" she wailed. "And my – oh, my _Witch Weekly_ is ruined!"

"Don't worry," Michael said disparagingly, "there's nothing in those magazines but beauty tips and pictures of that sap, Charles Dalton or whatever." He slammed the window shut. "Neither of which are necessary."

The train began to slow and people started coming out into the corridor. Benjy herded first the younger boys and then Eliza and Lily out into the crowd.

"Leave your luggage, you two, someone else will bring it to your rooms." Robert said to a pair of small boys attempting to drag their trunks into the corridor.

The doors of the train slid open and the throng pushed its way out onto the platform. Lily could hardly see Sam's back a few feet in front of her through the pouring rain. She and Eliza huddled together for warmth, their teeth chattering, as the last of the students left the train and the doors closed again.

"Firs' years! Firs'years over here!" came a loud voice to their left. "Firs' years this way!" Lily turned around and gasped.

"Ooh!" Eliza squealed.

Standing in front of them was the largest man Lily had ever seen. She supposed he was nearly twice as tall as her father and three times as wide. He had a huge scruffy beard and moustache that hid almost his whole face. The hand that she could see was holding a lantern and was the size of a dustbin lid. The man took a step toward her and the platform shook slightly under his weight. He grinned.

"Firs' year?" Lily nodded, craning her neck the better to see his huge face. "Righ' then, follow me."

Lily grabbed Eliza's arm and the two hurried after the big man. He led them and about forty other first years down a narrow path. They slipped on the wet stones and Eliza's elbow collided with Lily's rib.

"Ouch!" they both complained.

"You'll get yer firs' look a' th' castle in a minute!" the man called. A moment later, they rounded a bend in the path and –

"Ooooooh!"

They were on the edge of a great lake. Across the water there was a mountain, on top of which was perched an enormous castle. It was hard to make out its many towers and turrets through the pouring rain, but Lily could see the bright lights in the windows winking cheerfully at her.

Floating near the water's edge was a fleet of small boats.

"Well, get in!" the man called. "No more'n four to a boat!"

Eliza and Lily were joined in their boat by a short mousy-looking boy who squeaked when the boat rocked and a trembling girl with long blonde braids. The large man got into his own boat and slapped the side of it. "Off we go, then! FORWARD!"

The boats began to sail smoothly across the lake to the castle. Lily saw James and Sam attempting to push Remus into the water and whispered, "_Psst!_ Stop it!" Sam raised his eyebrows and splashed a bit of water at her.

"I wouldn' do that, if I were yeh," called the man. "The giant squid won' like it."

Sam yelped and quickly withdrew his hand.

After a few minutes, they came to the bottom of the cliff. "Watch yer heads!" the big man bellowed. They all quickly bent their heads as the boats carried them under a thick curtain of ivy. A second later, the boats touched the shore of a small harbor.

Eliza and Lily climbed out of the boat and followed the man's lamp through a passageway in the cliff. Coming out into the rain again, the first years shivered and pulled their robes more securely around themselves for warmth. They were standing right at the base of the castle. The man peered at the group as if counting heads, and then said loudly, "Righ', everyone here? In we go!"

The man started up the steps and everyone hurried to follow him. He reached the huge wooden front door and they all crowded around him, anxious to get out of the rain. Raising an enormous fist, he knocked three times on the castle door.

It swung open within seconds and everyone squinted at the sudden bright light. On the threshold there stood a formidable-looking witch with her hair pulled back into a tight bun. She looked at them all for a moment and her face twitched into a half-smile.

"The first years, I presume, Hagrid?"

The big man nodded, wringing enough water out of his beard to create a small lake on the floor. "That they be, Professor McGonagall."

"Well, come in, I daresay you've had enough of this weather," she said.

The woman turned and marched off up another flight of stairs. Eliza and Lily led the way through the door, whispering excitedly.

"She's a real witch! Like, a _real_ one!"

"'course she is, Lily, what'd you expect, green skin with a wart on her nose?" Eliza answered, laughing.

"That is quite enough talking, you two!" Professor McGonagall called over her shoulder without turning her head.

Eliza raised her eyebrows at Lily and they giggled.

The group emerged onto a small landing. Lily could hear the noise of many people talking and laughing in a room nearby, but Professor McGonagall led them past that corridor and into a stone chamber a few doors down.

When they had all filed in after her, she turned and faced them.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The Opening Feast will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you must be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony, because while you are at Hogwarts, your House will be somewhat like your family–"

"Gives the same speech every year," whispered a hoarse, bored voice from behind the girls. Lily and Eliza spun around and shrieked at what they saw.

A ghost, pearly white and slightly transparent, was leaning against the wall behind them. His face looked gaunt and sunken, his clothes in tatters around his bony frame. But the thing that most alarmed the girls was that the ghost was covered from head to foot in what looked like silvery blood.

He laughed, a low, menacing sound. "Frightened you, did I?"

"What's all this?"

Professor McGonagall had arrived. She took one look at the ghost and pursed her lips. "Mister Baron, sir, I'd really prefer it if you didn't –"

"Scare all the little firsties back to their mummies where they belong? I beg your pardon, Minerva," the ghost croaked. "I was just floating by and thought you might know where Peeves is."

"This really isn't the time –"

"Fourth floor corridor next to the portrait of Godric Gryffindor? I thought as much," said the ghost, and he glided through the wall and was gone.

"Who was that, Professor?" James asked immediately.

"_That_ was the Bloody Baron," said Professor McGonagall. "And I would advise you not to cross him if you don't want to end up in the darkest dungeon of the castle, frightened out of your wits with no idea how you got there."

"Ten Galleons says that happened to her when she was a first-year!" Sam whispered loudly. Professor McGonagall pretended not to hear and looked out into the hallway.

"Yes, I think they are ready for you now," she said. She looked back into the room and swept her eyes over the nervous first-years. "You, there, with the glasses!"

James looked up, surprised.

"At least _try_ and make that hair of yours look presentable. Now, form a line and follow me." She turned on her heel and marched out of the room. James stuck his tongue out at her retreating back and followed her, ignoring the sniggers from his fellow students. The rest of them formed a line that was really more of a cluster and hurried after him.

**_So that's it hope you liked it, I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner than this one! Oh, and REVIEW and I'll update even faster._**


	5. Sorting and Seventh Years

Disclaimer: I own nothing except a few seventh years and the password.

_And without further ado, I give you…_

_**Chapter Five: Sorting and Seventh-years**_

Professor McGonagall led them through the huge double doors into the Great Hall and Lily immediately forgot James's messy hair and the Bloody Baron as well. The Great Hall was the most magnificent room she had ever seen. Hundreds of candles were suspended above four long tables filled with chattering students who immediately fell silent at the sight of the approaching first-years. She looked up at the ceiling and gasped, for it looked exactly like the sky outside the castle, stormy rain clouds and all.

"Yeah, my brother told me about the ceiling!" Eliza said, staring at it open-mouthed. "It reflects the weather outside _all the time!_"

They made their way to the table at the other end of the hall, at which there sat witches and wizards that Lily guessed were teachers. She saw Professor Slughorn among them and grinned. The students at the tables they passed stared shamelessly, some elbowing their friends and pointing out various first-years.

The light from the candles glinted off one of the many golden plates on the table and Lily blinked, momentarily blinded. When she opened her eyes, she was looking straight into the eyes of Lucius Malfoy, seated to her left at what she assumed was the Slytherin table. He frowned and she looked away quickly. There was a calculating look in his eyes that slightly unnerved her.

Lily kept her eyes trained on Eliza's ponytail after that and as a result almost collided with her friend when she stopped suddenly. They had reached the other end of the hall.

"When I call your name, you will come forward and sit on this stool." Professor McGonagall indicated the three-legged stool behind her. "Then you will put on the Sorting Hat and –"

"A _hat _sorts us?"

"Lily, be quiet!"

The first-years watched as Professor McGonagall set a hat down on the three-legged stool. It was patched and extremely dirty. As Professor McGonagall drew her hand back, the hat gave a little twitch, as if to compose itself. Then a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.

_Long ago, 'ere I was made, _

_each Founder made their selections._

_Chose them from a great big group,_

_and taught them to perfection._

_Wizards live long lives, 'tis true, _

_but none can live forever._

_So Gryffindor thought long and hard; _

_not for naught was he thought clever._

_He whipped me quickly off his head, _

_as I now tell the story._

_Tapped me thrice upon my brim, _

_giving me the Sorting glory._

_For those who value knowledge, _

_and the power it bestows;_

_you shall go to Ravenclaw, _

_for it's you she would have chose._

_I might place you in Slytherin _

_if you are hungry with ambition; _

_In Salazar's house you will find _

_others of like disposition._

_If the thoughts I see in your mind _

_are loyal and just and true, _

_then it's to Hufflepuff you go: _

_Someday they shall receive their due._

_Gryffindor, that noble chap, _

_valued bravery above all. _

_It's there that I must send those _

_who ignore not adventure's call._

_These four have since been dead for years, _

_but their minds live on in me. _

_Just place me now upon your brow, _

_so I can see where you ought to be._

_I cannot guarantee you'll fit _

_quite perfectly with the rest, _

_It may take some adjustment, _

_but by year's end you'll think them best._

_Though I am sworn to divide you, _

_let not my words be etched in stone: _

_Befriend time-honored enemies, _

_and stick not only to your own._

The Great Hall burst into applause as the Sorting Hat finished its song and fell silent once more. Lily clapped just as enthusiastically as any of the older students, saying to Eliza, "That was brilliant! I wonder what sort of charm _that_ was…"

"Wait 'til you're about seventeen, Lily, before you bother with that kind of thing," Eliza told her, rolling her eyes.

"Aubrey, Bertram!"

Professor McGonagall had called out the first name on her list. A small, dark-haired boy came forward and perched on the very edge of the stool nervously. He closed his eyes tightly as the Sorting Hat was placed over his head and fell immediately over his eyes, stopping at the bridge of his nose. After about ten seconds, the rip near the brim of the Hat opened once more and that Hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

"So _that's _how they do it!" Lily exclaimed to Eliza as a girl with long blonde hair walked up to the stool. "I was afraid it'd be something –"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The girl walked quickly over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down.

"Oh, no, oh no, oh _no_…" Eliza whispered.

"Becketts, Eliza!"

"Go on! You'll be fine!" Lily said, giving her friend a gentle push in Professor McGonagall's direction. Eliza walked slowly up to the stool, trembling.

The Sorting Hat fell over her eyes, as it had for those before her, and it was barely two seconds before –

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Lily clapped loudly as Eliza skipped over to the Hufflepuff table and sat next to Benjy.

"Black, Sirius!"

"_Another_ Black?" exclaimed the girl with grey eyes next to Lily.

"What d'you mean?" Lily asked. "You know more of them?"

"Know them?" The girl laughed. "Let's just say I've spent far too much time with some of them."

"How come?" Lily was intrigued.

"My brother, Ted, is dating one of them – Andromeda Black." The girl told her. "I've met her family only once, and I _don't_ want to repeat that experience. One of her sisters –" she pointed at a slim, older girl with long blonde hair sitting at the Slytherin table "–went mad when she found out we were… well, that Ted and I are Muggle-born." She glanced sideways at Lily. "That doesn't bother _you_, does it?"

"Why would that –"

A boy with dark hair walked slowly past her. He watched her out of the corner of his eye and Lily blushed. He was very good-looking.

"That's her cousin, I reckon," whispered the grey-eyed girl. "Dunno much about him."

The Hat took a very long time with Sirius. At length, the rip opened very slowly, as if the Hat was reluctant to make its decision. Then it shouted:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hall erupted in whispers. People were turning to each other, looking confused. Lily heard one girl say to her friend, "A _Black_? In _Gryffindor?_"

She looked at the girl next to her and saw that she was frowning. "What's up?"

"I don't think the Blacks are generally put in Gryffindor," said the girl softly.

"Carrow, Jane!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

A pause while the heavy-set girl walked over to the Slytherin table, and then:

"Cauldwell, Stephen!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Lily tried to catch Eliza's eye at the Hufflepuff table, but her friend was too busy conversing with Benjy. She heard the phrase, "Evil to the core, the lot of them!" and thought they must be talking about the Blacks. She looked at Sirius, seated by himself at the very far end of the Gryffindor table. He didn't look evil at all. On the contrary, he looked absolutely miserable and kept glancing up at the Slytherin table hesitantly.

"Davis, Marianne!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

The skinny girl hurried over and gave a boy sitting at the Ravenclaw table a hug.

"Dobbs, William!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

A handsome boy grinned at the rest of the first-years and sauntered off to his table.

"Evans, Lily!"

If Lily hadn't known better, she would have thought she had a herd of stampeding wildebeest in her chest in place of a heart, the way it was hammering against the material of her robes.

She slowly pushed past Sam and Remus in front of her, walked up to the stool, and sat down. The last thing Lily saw before Professor McGonagall lowered the Sorting Hat onto her head was the small girl giving her a discreet thumbs-up from between James and Remus's heads. She giggled slightly.

"There, that's the ticket, no need to be nervous" said a clever voice in her head. Lily jumped slightly. The hat was talking to her.

"You're a clever sort, yes… perhaps Ravenclaw?"

"_Hufflepuff… please let it be Hufflepuff…_," Lily prayed inwardly.

"Hufflepuff? Really? No, I think not, my dear, you're far too brave to be put there. I think it'll have to be GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily heard the Hat shout the last word to the rest of the hall. She pulled it off her head and walked over to the cheering Gryffindor table, feeling slightly disappointed. She had _so_ wanted to be in Hufflepuff…

She dwelt on this for the rest of the ceremony, staring at the dwindling number of first-years waiting to be sorted. She barely heard the rest of the names called, only raising her head when James, Sam, and Remus were all sorted into Gryffindor.

As she watched Professor McGonagall carrying the Sorting Hat and stool out of the room, a figure plunked itself down next to her.

"We haven't been properly introduced!"

It was the girl who had told her about the Black family. But – no, it couldn't be. Her eyes weren't grey; they were a brilliant green that matched her own.

"You –"

"I absolutely _love_ your eyes, did I tell you that before?" The girl said, tapping her fingers impatiently on the table. "I was having trouble changing them before 'cause I was so nervous 'cause of the Sorting, but _now_ –"

"What? Witches can change their eye color?" Lily asked.

"Witches? Not any witch, no," said the girl. "Only Metamorphmagi!"

"Metamorwhat?"

"I can change my appearance to anything I want!" said the girl, grinning proudly. "I'm _really _rare. A Muggle-born Metamorphmagus? Probably the only one in the _world_…" She glanced at the staff table, where Lily could see that man – Dumbledore? Was that what her father had called him? – conversing quietly with Professor McGonagall. "Wish they'd hurry up, I'm _starving_… what's your name, by the way?"

Lily was caught off-guard by the sudden question. "Oh! Lily Evans."

"Nellie Tonks. That's right, I remember you getting Sorted."

Just then, Professor Dumbledore stood up and clapped his hands twice. Most of the students in the hall fell silent at once, though Lily noticed a few students at the Slytherin table kept talking.

"Welcome, welcome, to another year at Hogwarts!" Professor Dumbledore said, beaming around at the students. "There are a few points of interest that I must go over before the feast commences – but I know that all of you are starving, and as I myself cannot wait to sink my teeth into some of the kitchens' best roast beef, I shall make it brief." Some of the students chuckled.

"Mr. Filch, our caretaker," Dumbledore indicated a rather weedy-looking man standing in a dark corner of the hall, "has informed me that the number of Fanged Frisbees in the corridors is simply unacceptable. As you all know," he lowered his half-moon spectacles sternly, "Fanged Frisbees are at the top of the list of Mr. Filch's list of banned items, which can be found tacked to almost every classroom door in the school.

"Apart from reminding you all that the Forbidden Forest on the edge of the grounds is just that – forbidden – I can see no other obstacle between us and our excellent feast. And now, I would just like to say – dig in!" Professor Dumbledore smiled at his applauding students and sat down.

"Dig in?" said Lily, perplexed. "But there's no foo – oh!"

For the golden plates in front of her had just filled themselves with the most sumptuous-looking array of food Lily had ever seen. She could see a plate of every one of her favorite foods just in her line of vision. Helping herself to a chicken leg, she smiled. Her housekeeper made chicken legs just like these for her birthday every year.

Then she looked to her right. Mashed potatoes, creamy but with large chunks of solid potato – just like her Great-Aunt Ella had brought when she came over for holidays before she had died two years ago. _This place really is magical_… Lily thought, feeling a slight pang of homesickness.

"So, what's your blood?" Nellie said, bits of bread flying out of her mouth as she spoke. "I've already told you mine."

"My _blood_?" Lily said incredulously, putting down her chicken leg. "What about it?"

Nellie rolled her eyes. "I _mean_, what's your family? Wizards? Muggles? _House elves?_"

"Oh! Both my parents are Muggles."

"Great, so are mine! Except I've got an older brother who's a wizard, so I guess I'm better off than you, magically-speaking," Nellie said. Seeing Lily's face, she said, "No, no, I meant that I already know about the Wizarding world. Sorry, that came out wrong. Do you have a magical brother or sister?"

"No… I have an older sister, but she's not shown any signs of being a witch yet, so I reckon I'm the only one in my family."

Stuffing a large piece of meat in her mouth, Nellie nodded thoughtfully. "Great that you're a Gryffindor, though, innit? Brave ones, an' all. My brother's in Ravenclaw. He's a bit swotty." She took a large gulp of water and swallowed noisily.

"Gryffindor, brave? There are brave ones in Hufflepuff, too," said Lily, slightly insulted.

"So say the Hufflepuffs," said Nellie, rolling her eyes. "Mark my words, Lily, Gryffindor's the place you want to be. Ravenclaws are a bunch of goody two-shoes. Ted doesn't let me say that because he and his _dear_ Andromeda are Ravenclaws… but it's still true. Slytherin – well, we'll not get into them, you can tell just by looking at them why you don't want to be there, and Hufflepuff? People say that's where the Hat puts the ones that don't fit in anywhere else."

"Maybe that's where the Hat puts the ones that have all the qualities of the other Houses put together, then!"

"You're just saying that because your little friend went to Hufflepuff and you didn't," Nellie answered dismissively, breaking off a piece of bread. "I suppose you begged to be put in Hufflepuff, did you?"

"Lily Evans never begs!" Lily's temper, famous at her primary school, was beginning to surface. This girl had no idea what she was in for.

"And that Hat didn't listen to you," Nellie continued, ignoring Lily's increasingly red face. "Pity you don't get to stay with your friend, but the Sorting Hat is never wrong, Lily Evans. You're going to do well in Gryffindor." She held out a dish of buttered corn. "Care for a cob?"

Lily stared, brow furrowed, at the girl sitting next to her. Then her face cleared and she carefully moved the corn from the dish to her plate. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

And the girls continued their meal as though the quarrel had never happened.

A while later, Lily was reaching for the jug of pumpkin juice – Nellie had informed her that it was quite a popular drink in the Wizarding world, no matter how staunchly Lily defended her usual supper beverage choice of lemonade – when she suffered a severe shock. The jug disappeared from beneath her fingertips and was replaced within seconds by a tray of chocolate-chip cookies.

"Oh!" She gazed around her and saw that all traces of supper food had vanished, only to be replaced by delicious-looking desserts.

"I hear the fudge is great," said Nellie. Looking at the girl's bowl, Lily saw that it was already piled high with a large amount of chocolate pudding.

"Don't waste time, do you?" she remarked, selecting a piece of fudge from the dish and popping it into her mouth.

"Food," said Nellie, waving her spoon in the air, "is one of the best things the world has to offer. Now, _pudding_," she jabbed the spoon into her bowl, "is the single best thing it offers. That, and muffins." She banged her spoon down firmly on the table as though that settled the matter.

"Likes food, does she?" came Sam's voice loudly from a few chairs over. "She'd better watch it. Carry on like she does now and she'll get fat later."

"Sam!" Lily gasped, mortified for her friend.

"Oh, don't mind him, Lily," said Nellie. "He's just sour about what happened earlier."

"What happened earlier?"

"I threw him out of his compartment."

"_What_?"

"In a manner of speaking, I suppose. I tossed a Dungbomb in there and he and his friend were out like a flash."

"Why'd you do that, Nellie?"

Nellie smirked. "That compartment has the cushiest seats. My brother told me. Compartment Number Nine is the most comfortable."

"Not if it stinks like Dungbombs!" Sam called down the table.

Lily looked at Nellie.

"After living with my brother for all those years, I think I'm immune to it. The smell, I mean. It doesn't even bother me anymore."

"Does your brother use Dungbombs often?" Lily asked.

"All the _time_. A real prankster, Teddy is. He said everyone in his dormitory was marvelous at the Bubble-Head Charm by the time they got to fourth year."

"The _Bubble-Head _Charm?"

"Oh, come on, Lily, don't be daft. You conjure a bubble 'round your head so that you can't smell something foul. Ted showed me. It made him look awful funny, though." Nellie giggled as though picturing it in her head.

"Still, it was mean of you to throw it in their compartment when they hadn't done anything," Lily reprimanded.

"Nag all you want, it's done," said Nellie dismissively. "Lord, you're a regular old priss! You'll get made prefect in fifth year for sure."

"Prefect? You really think so?" Lily's face was shining.

Nellie looked revolted. "What're you so happy about? Being prefect would take all the fun out of life."

Before Lily could answer, the headmaster stood up at the staff table once more.

"I am sure that you must all be quite exhausted, what with the excitement of seeing Hogwarts and your old friends again after all this time," Dumbledore said, beaming, "and I shall be quite content with sending you all to bed very soon. But first…! First, we must sing the school song, I think!" He turned and winked at a very sour-looking Professor McGonagall.

He stood up on his chair and flicked his wand once. A long golden ribbon flew out of the end and rose high above his head.

"Everyone pick a satisfying tune, and off we go!" The golden ribbon began to twist itself into words, and the school began to sing – or rather, bellow:

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and bits of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

Lily finished the song around the same time as the older boy sitting next to her, but Nellie was singing it very slowly and very off-key and didn't finish for another minute.

"And now – bed, I think!" Dumbledore finished clapping for the school song and the ribbon flew back into his wand. "Good night!"

There was a stampede to reach the doors before everyone else, but over the noise of scraping chairs and chattering students Lily heard a clear voice say loudly, "Follow me, Gryffindors! Gryffindors this way!"

A tall, pretty girl was beckoning at them from near the door. A red and gold prefect's badge glittered on the front of her robes. Lily and Nellie scrambled out of their chairs and followed her out the door and up a wide marble staircase.

"You're new, aren't you?" the prefect asked Lily curiously.

"Yes," Lily said shyly.

"You look it. Turn here." The group turned right at a portrait of some very fat men in Victorian costume.

"I look new?" Lily asked.

"All scared and suchlike. And I think that I'd have noticed you before, with that bright red hair." The girl tugged playfully at a piece of Lily's hair.

"Are you a prefect?" She blushed as soon as she said it. It was painfully obvious that the girl was a prefect just by looking at the badge gleaming on her chest.

"Yes, a fifth-year. I've wanted to be one since I was eleven, though. It'll be great actually having some control over things around here. What's your name?"

"I'm Lily Evans."

"Marlene McKinnon. It's nice to meet you, Lily Evans." She tugged at Lily's hair again. "Ah, here we are."

They had reached the end of the corridor. On the wall was a large portrait of a very fat woman in a pretty pink dress.

"_Bloomers_," said Marlene clearly. The lady in the portrait nodded once and the portrait swung forward, revealing a large hole in the wall.

"Ooh!" Lily gasped, fascinated.

"This is the Fat Lady – sorry, ma'am, but that's your title – and you'll need to give the password to her every time you want to get into the common room. The password changes every once in a while and you're not to give it to members of other Houses. After all," Marlene laughed, "what would we do if they found out our common room is loads better than theirs?"

"Cut the speech, Mar, we want to get in!" called a boy from the back of the group.

"Shut it, Frank, I'm going!" snapped Marlene, and she led the way through the portrait hole.

It looked rather like her mother's sitting room at home, Lily thought. Except her mother had never been fond of gold, and this room was decorated almost entirely in scarlet and gold. There were comfortable-looking couches and armchairs scattered throughout the room, and a large fire crackled merrily on one wall. There were two doorways at the end of the room where Marlene led them.

She pointed at one. "This is the staircase to the boy's dormitories." A few boys immediately detached themselves from the group and hurried up the staircase. Marlene pointed at the other. "And these are our dormitories. Be sure not to confuse them." She winked at the girls.

"And if there's nothing else you girls need, I'll be going to bed!" Marlene yawned widely. "It's been a long day. See everyone in the morning!" She hooked arms with a girl who looked to be about her age, and the two walked up the staircase and out of sight.

Lily made to follow her, but Nellie grabbed her arm to hold her back. "Look!"

They turned and Lily saw the boy whose Sorting had caused the huge fuss standing in a corner – Sirius Black. He was surrounded by three older boys, all of whom looked very intimidating.

"So what's your game, Black?" demanded the one on the left.

"Yeah, what're you playing at?" the other two chimed in.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Black politely, but there was a steely edge to his tone.

"You're a _Black_ and you're in _Gryffindor_!" said the first boy very slowly, as though Black couldn't understand him if he talked normally. "It's not normal."

"You're up to something!" remarked the blonde boy on the right.

"He's probably a Slytherin spy! Gone to report our goings on to his filthy family!" sneered the boy in the middle, who was the beefiest of the lot and had large, heavily muscled arms. Black flinched when the boy mentioned his family, but otherwise remained as stoic as ever.

"I got Sorted into Gryffindor, so you'd better watch who you're accusing," he said coolly. Lily noticed his hands were trembling slightly.

"Yeah, but I reckon you've still got a bit of filth left in you," the large boy in the middle smirked. "What d'you say, boys?"

"I say we squeeze the filth out of him!" said the blonde boy threateningly. He made a move toward Black, but Lily got there first.

"Just what do you think you're doing!" she squeaked. It was quite a different matter to be thinking about standing between Black and the older boys and to actually be standing between Black and the older boys.

"Out of the way, pipsqueak," said the beefy boy impatiently. "We've got work to do."

"Not with him, you don't!" Lily continued loudly. "He didn't do anything!"

"Go away," hissed Black out of the corner of his mouth. "I can deal with my own problems."

"Shut your face," Lily whispered back fiercely. "I didn't see you dealing with them too well before I came over!"

The boy in the middle had evidently heard her, and he let out a loud laugh. "The girl's got guts! I say, I'll give you a second chance, little girl. Step away from the filthy Black boy."

But Lily had drawn her wand. "Second chance, and _then_ what?"

Suddenly another boy stepped in front of Lily. It was James.

"Come off it, Evans," he scoffed. "This isn't even a good cause. The boy's dark as his name. Let them have their fun."

Lily narrowed her eyes and pointed her wand at James. "Some Gryffindor you are, James. Get out of the way."

"Better do as she says, mate, I don't like the look of this!" the boy on the left stage-whispered, elbowing his friends and sniggering.

"Get out of the _way_."

"Or you'll do _what?_" James taunted. "We haven't even learnt any hexes yet, Evans."

"You mean _you_ haven't."

Something in her tone of voice must have convinced James that Lily was seriously considering hexing him to the other side of the common room, because he stepped back nervously and said, "If you want, Evans. But don't say I didn't warn you."

"What's all this?"

Marlene McKinnon had arrived back in the common room. She took in the scene in front of her and then turned to the first boy and glared at him.

"Marcus Johnson! Bullying, _again_?"

"Stay out of it, Mar!" grumbled the boy.

"Shut your fat mouth and get up to bed before I call McGonagall!" Marlene put her hands on her hips. "That goes for you, too, Corner, Abbott."

The three boys muttered mutinously to one another but backed away from Sirius Black and went up the boy's staircase. Marcus made sure to elbow Marlene as he passed her. Her foot flew up to kick him swiftly in the behind in retaliation, and he yelped as his friends guffawed next to him.

"All right, everyone, clear out!" Marlene said sharply to the rest of the onlookers, all of whom dispersed and went up the two staircases without much complaint. "That means you, too, Potter," she added, glancing at James. He rolled his eyes at her and motioned to Sam and Remus, who were behind him.

"Come on."

"And _you_!" Marlene put a hand on Lily's shoulder just as she was about to climb the staircase. Lily looked back, startled, but Marlene just smiled. "I'll be recommending you for prefect before I leave school, I reckon." She patted her on the back and went up the steps.

Lily turned to Nellie, who was standing next to her, looking as though she didn't have a clear idea of what had just happened. "Let's get to bed, then!"

"Oh, stop looking so happy," Nellie said as the two mounted the stairs. "This is horrible. You're going to be even more prissy."

In response, Lily stuck out her tongue. They reached the top of the staircase and she sighed happily. There were six four-poster beds with scarlet hangings in the room, each with their own nightstand. She could see her trunk waiting for her at the foot of the bed nearest the middle window.

"I call the loo first!" came Nellie's voice, muffled slightly because her head was buried in her trunk.

"Second!"

"Third!"

"Fourth!"

"Fifth!"

"Sixth! Oh, bugger," mumbled a girl with brown braids two beds over from Lily. They all laughed.

As she climbed into bed a few minutes later, with her pajamas on and her teeth brushed, Lily looked out of her window at the spacious grounds. It was marred slightly by the rain still lashing at the windows, but she could tell the view would be beautiful once the weather cleared up.

_Yes_, Lily thought, pulling the covers up to her chin like she always did, _things at Hogwarts were shaping up very well indeed._

"G'night, Lily!"

"'night, Nellie," Lily called sleepily, her eyes already heavy. Marlene was right; it had been a very long day. And a few minutes later, she was fast asleep.

_**AND THERE WE HAVE IT! **_

_**Hope you all liked that chapter as it was my longest yet. **_

_**Poll: Would you like me to jump to seventh year next chapter or do one more first year chapter? Whatever my faithful reviewers want… provided they REVIEW! Let's try to break the record of nine reviews this chapter. I promise to update soon!**_

_**Lots of love and ah-dorable British boys, **_

_**Messyblackhair66**_


	6. Muffins and Matchsticks

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own plot. Oh, how original.

_And without further ado, I give you…_

_**Chapter Six: Muffins and Matchsticks**_

The next morning, Lily was woken up rather early by Nellie, who was bouncing up and down on her bed.

"First –" _Bounce._

"Nellie, what –"

"– day –" _Bounce._

"Gerroff!"

"– of –" _Bounce._

"_Nellie!_"

"– classes! –" Nellie finished, falling onto her back and breathing heavily. "Aren't you _excited?_"

"Whuh time zit?"

"Half past six, why?" Nellie looked genuinely puzzled.

Lily rolled right over and went to sleep again.

"Well, _really_," the other girl huffed, getting off the bed.

A couple of hours later, Nellie had succeeded in rousing Lily and the two were dressed and on their way through the portrait hole to breakfast. They were joined in the common room by two other girls in their year named Violet Zeller and Darcy Doyle.

"And I didn't even bring any books with me because I didn't know what classes we have today!" Lily was saying anxiously. "What am I going to _do_?"

"Well," said Nellie, "if _you_ don't know what classes we have today, then I reckon nobody else does, either. If you haven't noticed, none of us brought books."

Lily sighed with relief.

"So what d'you think is a good look for the first day?" Nellie asked.

"A good look?" said Darcy curiously.

"Yeah. To morph, you know."

"Ooh, you're a _Metamorphmagus?_" said Violet keenly. "They're really rare!"

"I _know_ they are," said Nellie irritably. "I'm not an idi –"

Lily elbowed her.

"Well, anyway. I reckon I should go dark, like so –" she screwed up her face and her hair immediately changed from light brown to black "–shoulder length? No, a pixie cut, with blue eyes – I love yours, Lily, but they just don't suit me – and a nose like… _this._ No, this. And maybe the eyes should be – ooh, I've always wanted to try purple –"

The other girls watched her fluctuating appearance with open mouths. Lily in particular, being Muggle-born, had never seen such a performance. In the end, Nellie settled on short blonde hair with blue eyes and a cute button nose. The girls made it down to breakfast in about fifteen minutes, having taken only four wrong turns and gone down one misleading staircase.

Settling down to a big plate of scrambled eggs and sausages, Lily said, "When do we get our timetables, though? I hope we have Charms first, I'm _really _looking forward to trying out some of those Levitation ones the book talked about – how great would it _be_ to make something fly?"

"It'd be nice, I suppose," conceded Nellie. She upended a nearly-empty bottle of ketchup over her plate and shook it experimentally. "Damn, none left. I really want to go to Astronomy."

"I wonder how they're going to do that class," Lily wondered.

"They do it at midnight on some day of the week," said Violet, glancing over. "My brother told me. Seventh-years get it on Saturdays. Lucky buggers – They're not all tired for classes the next day."

"Has anyone seen the muffins?" Nellie asked, peering up and down the table. She spotted them next to Remus's elbow down at the other end of the table. "Oh, bugger. He's sitting with that prat Sam. Lord, I really don't want to talk to him… Lily, will you go with me to get them?"

"What, and be your muffin escort?" Lily giggled but got up anyway and the two girls walked over to where Remus was sitting on the left of James Potter and across the table from Sam. Sam was staring bleary-eyed into his bowl of porridge and James was fast asleep, his head resting on his arm, which was half submerged in his plate of eggs.

"Not morning people, eh?" Nellie whispered to Lily, who only nodded. She was staring enviously at James, who had just let out a little snore. _Wish I was still asleep…_

"Morning!" said Nellie loudly, sticking her head between James and Sam. James gave a start and jerked his head off his arm.

"Whaazat?" His glasses were hanging lopsidedly off the end of his nose and one sleeve of his robes was covered in yellow goop from his eggs. Lily giggled and he stared at her bemusedly.

"Who are you?" Sam snapped at Nellie, and it took Lily a moment to realize that Nellie looked completely different than she had the previous night.

"Never you mind. Remus, may I have the muffin basket, please?"

Handing her the muffin basket, Remus looked questioningly at Lily. She shook her head at the boys amusedly and followed Nellie back to where the other girls were sitting.

They were almost done with breakfast when Lily chanced to look a few seats down and saw Sirius Black sitting there, looking very unhappy and stabbing at his breakfast venomously. She felt a stab of pity for the boy and looked through the door into the Entrance Hall at the big clock there. There were still fifteen minutes left of breakfast.

"Wait for me to go back to the dormitory, yeah?" she told Nellie, and walked hesitantly around the end of the table to sit next to Sirius Black.

"I'm sorry I meddled last night," she said quickly.

He turned his head slowly to look at her and Lily felt her cheeks redden just as they had the night before. _He was definitely very handsome…_

"Why'd you do it?" he said abruptly.

"What?" Lily was startled. "Oh, step in front…? It didn't seem right, I suppose."

"That they were taking the mickey out of me?"

"Erm… that they were _bullying_ you, yes."

Sirius laughed shortly. "You're obviously Muggle-born."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't know the way things are around here," he said simply.

"I know a lot more than you give me credit for." Lily narrowed her eyes. "I'm not some mindless idiot who just happened to stumble in here. I can listen, you know. I know that witches and wizards from your family don't get Sorted into Gryffindor. Your cousin is in Slytherin and she's a nasty piece of work. People in Gryffindor don't really like your family; they call them filthy. The Blacks apparently have some prejudice against Muggle-borns like me and Nellie Tonks. I gather that your family… that people in your family aren't really the best sort of people," she finished in a rush.

He laughed again, but it sounded more like a bark to Lily. "Really know your history, don't you? Just like reading out of a textbook."

"Why are you in Gryffindor?" she asked him. He looked surprised at the question and began to fiddle with his spoon. Behind them, James Potter had been walking out of the Hall with Sam and Remus but stopped abruptly upon hearing the question. Sam scoffed and kept walking, but Remus hesitated, waiting for James.

"Nosy bird, aren't you?" Sirius muttered finally. "I really don't know why I'm in Gryffindor. S'pose I'm a bit different from them. I never really got on with my cousins, if you know what I mean." He saw James and Remus reflected in the back of his spoon and turned around sharply.

"Oi! Keep moving!" he barked at them. Remus jumped and fairly scampered out of the Great Hall, but Lily saw James give Sirius a fleeting look of something like respect before following the other boy.

She could see Sirius was uncomfortable now and said, "Well, you really don't seem bad to me. Maybe it's because I'm Muggle-born. We're not as _smart_ as wizards, and all that…" She waited for his reaction.

"No, no, that's not it," mumbled Sirius immediately. He caught her satisfied smile and glared. "You're just too interested in other people's business, that's all."

"Have a good day, then," said Lily coolly, but she had a small smile on her face as she met up with Nellie near the doors.

The other girl handed her a piece of paper. "When you were with that Black boy being Little Miss Friendly, Professor McGonagall came around with the timetables," she informed her. "I got yours for you."

"Ooh, thanks." Lily examined her schedule. "Potions first thing today? It could be worse, I suppose. It's good that we don't have it right before lunch, I'd lose my appetite, wouldn't you?"

"Are you kidding?" said Nellie, half laughing, "Rat spleens and porcupine quills? Those _don't_ make you hungry?"

"No, I can't say they do," said Lily, smiling, as they started up the marble staircase.

"Right, I'll give you five Knuts if you can lead us to the common room with no wrong turns."

"What about staircases and trick walls and such?"

"Those are hard to avoid. Tell you what; I'll subtract one Knut for every one of those."

"Deal."

In the end, Lily and Nellie made it back to the common room having run into only one dead end as the result of being led astray by a mischievous poltergeist named Peeves.

"Pay up!" declared Lily once they were back in the dormitory.

"I don't think so!" said Nellie. "I said _only if there were no wrong turns!_"

"But that was Peeves's fault!"

"We still made the wrong turns!"

"But – but I got rid of Peeves!" Lily said proudly.

Nellie rolled her eyes. "That wasn't you, that was Remus Lupin. He's the one that said the spell that made Peeves go all funny."

"But I _told _Remus what spell to use! I would have done it, I just didn't have my wand –"

The two continued to argue as they got the books they would need for their classes before lunch and went down the dormitory stairs into the common room.

"Wait up, you two!"

They were joined a few moments later by Violet and Darcy, who were now accompanied by the two other Gryffindor girls in their year. Lily rather thought the blonde one's name was Fiona and the one with the brown braids was called Electra… or was her name Fiona and the other one Electra…?

"You two know Electra and Fiona, I reckon," said Violet, smiling and pointing at the other two girls. Lily rolled her eyes. _That didn't help me at all…_

"We'd better head to Potions," said the one with braids – _Fiona?_ – as she looked anxiously at the grandfather clock in the corner. "We can't be late on the first day!"

"Oh, calm down, Fiona –" _Aha!_ "– we still have about fifteen minutes," said the blonde girl. "Still, not as if there's anything else to do here, is there?" She looked disparagingly around the common room. "Let's go."

She and the other girls led the way out of the portrait hole, Lily and Nellie bringing up the rear. The latter was inclined to stay behind in the common room and play Exploding Snap, and Lily was trying to talk her out of it.

"You can't skive off the first lesson!"

"Like the professor'll be doing anything but telling us what the ingredients are!" Nellie snorted. "I think Potions will be a breeze."

"Well, you can't know until you try it, right? _Come on._" She dragged the other girl down the corridor until they had caught up with the rest of the girls.

"_So_… anyone seen any cute boys yet?" said Darcy, giggling.

"Well, obviously, Sirius Black is _extremely _good-looking," said Electra, turning around and squinting critically at the boy himself, who was walking a little behind them in the corridor. "Dobbs, in Hufflepuff, he's not bad either… it's hard to tell, see, because they're all so _short_ at this age." She sighed dramatically and Nellie hastily turned her giggle into a cough. "It's very tough to tell, especially with that boy Sam. I'm not sure what he'll turn out to –"

"Well…" began Fiona slowly. "I think Sam's not bad-looking…"

"Hmph!" Nellie snorted. "You can do better than that little toerag."

Fiona looked slightly hurt and Lily was relieved when Darcy changed the subject.

Due to the guidance of Electra, who turned out to have a very keen sense of direction, they arrived at the door to the dungeon where the Potions lessons were held ten minutes later, having taken no wrong turns at all. The girls were the first ones there and formed a queue outside the door. A minute later, more students began to trickle down the staircase, and by the time the lesson was due to start about twenty-five people were lined up behind them. Lily noticed a few green-and-silver ties and sighed. Apparently, they would be having these lessons with the Slytherins.

The door to the dungeon banged open and a cloud of steam billowed out. A few seconds later, Professor Slughorn emerged out of the smoke. He was coughing, but beamed around at them all. Lily couldn't help feeling that there was something calculating about his gaze.

"Ah, my first batch of first-years!" Professor Slughorn boomed, wiping his eyes. "Sorry about the smoke; one of my potions has rather nasty effects if more than a dash of leech juice is added – but no matter. Come in, come in!" He waved them through the door.

"_'One of my potions has rather nasty effects'…_Pah!" Nellie whispered as they filed in after Fiona. "I'll bet that was his idea of a grand entrance."

There was a sudden commotion near the door. Sam, apparently still half-asleep, had stumbled and crashed into a large shelf next to Slughorn's desk. A few potion bottles had smashed on the floor and a large ornamental vase was teetering on the edge of the shelf.

Professor Slughorn quickly pulled his wand out of his dark green robes and directed it at the fallen bottles. "_Reparo._ These potions do unsavory things when not used in the proper ways," he explained to the surrounding watchers as the shards flew back together. "_Scourgify._" The rapidly congealing puddle of potion vanished immediately.

After making sure the vase was secure on its perch, Slughorn turned to Sam, who was sitting on the floor rubbing his head.

"Not hurt, I hope?" he asked kindly, holding out a hand to help the boy to his feet.

"N-no, sir," said Sam, looking faintly embarrassed.

"There, there, it's quite all right, no harm done. Those potions weren't all that hard to brew, anyway," Slughorn reassured him, though there was a faint line of worry on his forehead as he glanced at the now-empty bottles.

"I'm very sorry, sir," said Sam, remembering his manners.

"Really, it's fine – er, I didn't catch your name, m'boy?"

"Sam, sir. Er – Samuel Golpalott-Jones."

Lily heard Nellie let out a very un-ladylike snort next to her.

"_Golpalott-Jones?_" Professor Slughorn exclaimed. "Why, you're Linnea's son!"

"Yes, sir, that's my mother," agreed Sam, blushing.

"Well, now!" Slughorn beamed, if possible, even more widely and gestured at the rest of the class. "I had the _immense_ pleasure of instructing Samuel's mother, Linnea, in Potions years ago! Merlin, that was many years ago. And what a dab hand at Potions _she _was, eh?" He gave Sam's shoulder a little shake. "Golpalott's Laws ring a bell?"

"Yes, sir, they ring a bell," Sam mumbled, and Lily saw him roll his eyes.

"The very foundation of society's knowledge of antidotal functions!" said Slughorn impressively. "Yes, the Third Law in particular has really – but Golpalott_-Jones_, you say? Which of the Joneses did she marry?"

"Antiochus Jones, sir."

"Oh, dear." Professor Slughorn's face grew a bit paler. "Antiochus? What a – a _charming_ boy, I'm sure."

"You knew my father, too?" Sam's expression brightened a little.

"Yes, yes, _oh, yes_, I knew your father," said Slughorn worriedly. "Nice boy, he was, but there never was one for destroying cauldrons like young Antiochus. Still, I'm sure your mother has straightened him out." He patted Sam on the shoulder and waddled off to the other side of the dungeon.

"See? My mother's got _antidotial – antidomal – antitotal – _well, she's got really big laws named after her!" bragged Sam, grinning at the girls.

"Won't stop you taking after your father," said Nellie dismissively, pushing past him to get to a table near the back.

"Who _is _that?" Lily heard Sam whisper to a pudgy boy near him, and she giggled and followed Nellie.

On the whole, Lily reflected as she cleared up her cauldron at the end of the period, it had been a very nice class. Potions was just the sort of thing she was good at. There wasn't any real skill involved, you just had to have the right meticulous sort of character that read all the directions and measured out precisely the right amount of ingredients. _And that's definitely me,_ she mused, washing her hands at the stone sink at the back of the dungeon.

"I'll be coming around to check your potions in a minute!" Slughorn called from his desk. "And then we'll see…" He turned back to his papers and did not complete the sentence.

They had prepared Strengthening Solutions, which were very simple and didn't require much careful thought. It had clearly been Slughorn's thinking that it was an ideal easy potion for a first-year class with no experience at Potions to prepare. However, not every one of the first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins had Lily's apparent knack for Potions.

Nellie in particular was not having an easy time of it. She had forgotten to add the crucial ingredient at the correct stage, no matter how many times Lily had reminded her to do so, and was now fanning her cauldron as rotten-smelling fumes issued from it.

Just then, there was a loud _bang_ and Lily whipped around quickly. Then she laughed. "I _told _you so… that fire was way too hot for that stage of the potion!"

"Shut up!" Sam's shaggy hair was sticking straight up in the air and his pale face had been blacked with soot from the explosion of his cauldron. Nellie, who had apparently lost all hope of fixing her potion and already cleared up, walked past him and sneered.

"Destroying cauldrons, eh? Sounds… _familiar_."

"Miss … Evans, is it?" Professor Slughorn questioned as he stopped next to her cauldron.

"Yes, sir. We, er…"

"Oh, yes! We met on the train!" Slughorn smiled. "You're great friends with Miss Becketts, is that right?"

"Yes, sir. We went to the same –"

"And this is your potion? Marvelous, my dear, simply marvelous! Just the shade of green it's supposed to be!" Professor Slughorn drew a ladle out of a pocket of his robes and dipped it into the cauldron. He took a small, careful sip before setting the ladle down on a nearby table.

"Yes, with the distinctly minty taste… _very _good!" He squatted down, grasped the leg of his desk with one meaty hand, and very suddenly lifted the desk off the ground. The class gasped.

"Ah! Excellent! Very strong effects!" said Slughorn, putting the desk back on the floor rather hastily. "Well, Miss Evans, it's very clear that Potions just might be your _forte!_" He patted her genially on the back and crossed to the other side of the room to continue with his evaluations.

"_Just might be your fooooorte_…" mimicked Nellie. She sighed bitterly. "I wish I'd made one that good."

"Cheer up, there's still time," Lily said soothingly. "At least you didn't skive off."

"Yeah, but now I wish I had," Nellie said. "What do we have now?"

"Transfiguration," Lily said without looking at her schedule.

"You _memorized it? _You have _got_ to be kidding me…"

"Shut up!"

"Priss."

"_Nellie_…"

"Priss."

"I swear, if you don't –"

"Priss."

It took them a surprisingly short amount of time to reach the Transfiguration classroom a few floors above. However, they had been following the other students in their year, all of whom had been following Electra, so that was understandable.

The girls walked into the room and Lily immediately spotted Eliza standing at a table near the window. She hurried across the room and tapped her friend happily on the shoulder.

"Hello!" she said excitedly.

"_Lily!_" Eliza grinned at her. "How're you? How was your first night? Did you sleep well? Me, I thought my bed was a tad uncomfortable, but that might've been because it was near the window and the window was open an inch all night… bit stupid, really, not to have shut it. I can't _believe_ we weren't sorted into the same House, can you? Of course we should have been, we were always on the same sports teams in primary school and –"

"Miss Becketts."

Eliza swallowed and looked to the front of the room. Professor McGonagall was standing between her desk and the blackboard looking at them pointedly. The rest of the class was already in their seats with their parchment and quills out. Lily saw Nellie sitting next to Sam, glaring at her, and winced apologetically.

"Are you _quite _finished or is there something you wish to share with the class?"

"No, Professor. We'll be quiet now," said Lily when Eliza looked too embarrassed to answer.

"I was of the opinion I directed the question to the young lady sitting next to you," retorted Professor McGonagall, "or is your name Miss Becketts as well?"

"N-no, Professor, it isn't."

"Would you do me the service of telling me your name?"

"Lily Evans, Professor."

"Miss Becketts, are you finished with your conversation or would you like to continue it?" Professor McGonagall turned to Eliza. "I would be perfectly happy for you to choose the latter. Simply give the word and the two of you may leave the class and go to an empty classroom so that you will not be distracted by my teaching."

Gulping, Eliza managed to stutter out, "S-Sorry, Professor McGonagall."

"I thought so. Take your seats, Becketts, Evans."

The two girls sat down, their cheeks red. Neither of them spoke for about twenty minutes while Professor McGonagall gave the class instructions on how to turn a matchstick into a needle. _Simple, isn't it,_ Lily thought, _just wave your wand and say the incantation?_

But it turned out to be much more than that. There had to be sufficient determination in the mind of the spell caster that that matchstick absolutely _had _to be turned into a needle. It was very hard work. At one point, about fifteen minutes after they had started working, Eliza became very excited and showed Lily how her matchstick had gone all pointy at the end. Lily pointed out that it was sharp because her friend had been whacking it so hard on the edge of the desk that the tip had broken off.

"So how's Hufflepuff?" said Lily after a while. This Transfiguration business was getting extremely boring and she hadn't talked to her friend since yesterday.

"Oh, it's all right," Eliza answered, "I ate supper with Benjy and his friends yesterday, but I met some absolutely lovely girls in my dormitory – I'll have to introduce you to them soon! I ate breakfast with them." She fell silent, biting her lip as she focused on Transfiguring her matchstick, and Lily was left to look elsewhere for a distraction.

One desk over, Nellie was sitting next to Sam. It appeared that someone (Lily suspected one of the girls from their dormitory) had told him that she was a Metamorphmagus and that he now knew who she was.

"Keep your elbow off my side of the desk!"

"It's a free country, innit? And I'm bigger than you, I need more room!"

"Everything in equal share!"

"Everything in _proportion!_"

"_Professor McGonagall!_"

Two desks behind them, James Potter was sitting next to Sirius Black. The two weren't talking at all, but they glanced at each other every other moment and every so often they glanced up at the same time. It looked like they were in a race to Transfigure their matchstick before the other.

"Time's up!" called Professor McGonagall from the front of the room. "Put your matchstick – or _needle_, hopefully – down in front of you and wait for me to come around."

Lily looked down at her matchstick. It was, undeniably, a matchstick. There was nothing needle-like about it whatsoever.

She wasn't worried, however, because it seemed like no one in the class had managed to make any difference to their matchstick except Eliza, who of course had broken hers, and Sirius Black. His was unmistakably pointier at the ends and had a grayish tinge to it. He looked very proud when Professor McGonagall showed it to the rest of the class. James Potter was looking at him enviously, but there was another emotion mixed in with the jealousy, just as there had been that morning in the Great Hall.

Then it was time to go to lunch, and Lily hurried to catch up with Nellie outside the classroom.

_**AND THERE WE HAVE IT! **_

_**Hope you all liked THAT chapter… it was the second longest yet.**_

_**I would like to invite you to read "In A Nutshell", by Jewels5, because it is an exceedingly clever parody of a stereotypical LJ fanfic. It's amazing, seriously. **_

_**I had to cut the chapter off here because it was being simply annoying. I don't pretend to be proud of the ending, for it's complete rubbish, but I'll give you another first year chapter to make up for it. **_

_**So, uh – REVIEW, please! Thank you for breaking the record with 15 reviews last chapter! **_

_**Lots of love and FOUR AND A HALF DAYS TO DEATHLY HALLOWS, **_

_**Messyblackhair66**_


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